An O.A.P.'s view of everything.

Monthly Archives: April 2010

To be honest I dunno meself what they are. But if getting into Business in any way is what you fancy then read the blurb about the Z Files by clicking the link at top right of this page.
I would imagine that those over fifty, like myself, would greatly benefit by reading them, as would school-leavers fed-up with the nightmare of getting into paid work after school or college.
The Z Files are a small collection of letters written about working for yourself in very difficult financial times. Word count is over 7,000 and Z Files would be sent by e-mail as a download.
Earning £ is something that can be learned. As is setting up a £1,000,000 business with £0 for capital!
You can learn exactly HOW by reading the Z Files. If I can…..so can you.

A flock of sheep. A herd of cows.
Today a wisp of a smile did lighten my morn as at the beeb site I read that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research was a group of Think-Tankers.
I shall, therefore, in future, refer to any such committee’s, as a ‘Giggle’.

At the said Institute members are verbally dissecting what they call, ‘The National Debt’, with a view to ‘resolving’ it.
And therein lies the most fundamental error that giggling think-tankers always make.
Right it and the problem solves itself.
🙂

At one time a retail ‘shop’ was a place to peruse, socialize and indeed buy. Often purveyors owning shops would be knowledgeable of the goods they sold and, therefore, able to offer advice re; those goods. Shop owning (retail sales); a perfectly good and well respected occupation for many in Great Britain.
Years later and ‘The Corner Shop’ may still be there, just, but the need for ever ‘cheaper’ prices (or the concept of that) has changed the useful corner shop into the supermarket/hypermarket/mall.
At first this was okay – many folk were employed by the supermarkets – in all levels of work from management to shelf-stacking. In fact aquiring the land (easily!!) upon which a lucrative outlet could be built, often rested more easily with town planners, because of local jobs at the site in worthwhile numbers.
But, as ever the need for profit above all else with such mega-stores rules all.
A few years back I noticed the installation of auto-checkouts at a store locally. The blurb spouted was, “They’re for folk with just a couple of items!”
Rubbish. They were there because they saved the store an absolute fortune in wages, N.I., and wage-clerk fees. Not to mention cash lost in days-off! I thought then of the automation – and job-losses – soon to come…
The number of such machines has, slowly, imperceptably, increased at my store.
And today I read (Mail) that the machines are now being installed quite blatantly.
Ultimately, thousands of jobs, nationwide, obviated…….
And if you’ve a query, who the hell d’you ask?

Not that I’m really watching but the shepherds are having a hard time of it lately!
One of them has really annoyed a normally very docile and appreciative ewe!
But all the shepherds are up against it this time. The problem is that the sheer cost of enough grass for the sheep is now far more than the value of the shearing!
Well, to be honest, it always has been, it’s just that the shepherds, so far, have managed to hide the fact very well from sheep that didn’t really care. They just want a never-ending grass pile and to be left alone. But now, after years of subterfuge and wool-juggling to buy grass etc. the debts have piled-up and there’s no cadgeable wool anywhere to further borrow. The shepherds, like their sheep, are well penned-in by it all.
Not that the shepherds care – they get their cut whatever! Courtesy the sheep.
Mmmm…a few Greek sheep are baa-ing loudly – but the Euro shepherds couldn’t care less – they want EXTRA wool this year regardless!
So, what’ll be the outcome of this years Penning?
It’s not really for me to say, but as a good rule of thumb, when times are bad, the sheep usually opt for the devil they know.
Grass is grass – pinched, printed or borrowed, the sheep don’t really care!

Yep, it’s a lonely life this Sole-Trader malarky. Still, it’s marginally better than having a £163,400,000,000.00p DEFICIT for the year! I mean, now come on! I did better than that WHEN I WAS AT SCHOOL for gawds sake!

Mmmm…Simon Cowell is ONLY at 398 in The British Rich-List. Shame Simon! Do better next year eh?

But, it’ll be NEXT year’s £ results, from all quarters, that’ll really be interesting eh? And it’s baddish now on the general jobs front – next year may be catastrophic! Something has just GOT to give.
Usually it’s the taxpayers.

Tesco pulled £6,400+ per minute, or about £107 a second Profit last tax-year.
So I’ll ease-off a bit to let them catch up!

Meanwhile, it is estimated, private debt in UK was about £55,000,000,000.00p. (Not, repeat NOT including mortgages)

The moral of which is: eggs not egos.
Or, closer to home perhaps, innertubes not spare tyres!

It is common-place to read of the plight of say ‘over-fifties’, stuck in un-saleable, grandiose family semi’s, robbed of lucrative Private pension security, with bog-all to do other than sign on; looking for ‘a job’ a total no-go area as most are simply un-affordable. (i.e. the cost of doing is more than the recompense – or close to it)

So, upon attaining the title ‘over fifty’ a subtle change of wording (I found) changed everything.
Instead of the totally degrading, time-wasting, pointless chore of ‘looking for a job’. I just ‘looked for work’.

There is, in doing this, no place for ego or the comfort of a comparatively large weekly or monthly salary cheque…(pay is, sadly, totally commensurate with effort and image but, surprisingly perhaps, not looks!!)

…but, in this coming year, who, in their right mind, would bank on those once rock-solid Job-benefits?

It would appear so at last! And, it’s actually SUNNY out there so I’ll be out rather than in.
Got to do a bit of stock-taking too – the stuff’s got a a bit dusty of late – but a good sweep-up will sort that!
Mmmm…….shelves are rather empty??

I never noticed with all that ‘volcano’ commotion……..well, actually I did. But, over the years, I’ve seen too many smoke-screens and therefore no longer deviate.
Did you?
🙂

Yes!!! I’ve just de-coked me Peterson! Gawd! The fallout! But, as mentioned here quite a few times…keep an eye on our food supplies and distribution. We import most of what we eat. Not good that…but who cares eh? so long as food’s cheap!

************

Mmm…it seems that certain sheep like to run fast; so fast that the wily old shepherds notice. Not that the shepherds really care, it’s just that (as ever) they’re quick to latch on to a nasty yet lucrative little earner.
But, little-earner’s involve graft and the wily shepherds don’t like that! Oh no. So they get some dark blue sheep to do that – fueling them with the promise of instant and valuable shearings!
So, the dark blue sheep install myriad cameras to catch the speeding sheep and give them a quick shearing! And, at first, the dark blue sheep work eagerly as wool values pile up by the bale!
Around £1,000,000,000.00p worth of it so far.
Of course the shepherds let them have a little % of this bonanza, then, as always, their true colours emerge and the % is withdrawn.
The dark blue sheep are disheartened and no longer gambol to put up the cameras. The return in wool values drops a little………but the shepherds don’t mind.
They’re busy erecting pretty coloured sheep-pens…the orangey one attracting most sheep at the moment; the thought of instant shearing forgotten as orange-pen good-grazing promises easily quiet the flock.
BAH!
🙂